Recommended Reading
Adolescents and Adults With Learning Disabilities
Noel Gregg, Ph.D.
Gives special attention to supporting students during the crucial transition from high school to higher education or vocational settings.
All About IEP’s
Peter Wright, Esq. - Pamela Darr Wright, MA MSW
In this comprehensive, easy-to-read book, you will find clear, concise answers to frequently asked questions about IEPs. Learn what the law says about:
- IEP Teams and IEP Meetings
- Parental Rights & Consent
- Steps in Developing the IEP
- Placement, Transition, Assistive Technology
- Strategies to Resolve Disagreements
Delivered From Distraction
Edward M. Hallowell, MD - John J. Ratey, MD
In 1994, Driven to Distraction sparked a revolution in our understanding of attention deficit disorder. Widely recognized as the classic in the field, the book has sold more than a million copies. Now a second revolution is under way in the approach to ADD, and the news is great. Drug therapies, our understanding of the role of diet and exercise, even the way we define the disorder–all are changing radically. And doctors are realizing that millions of adults suffer from this condition, though the vast majority of them remain undiagnosed and untreated. In this new book, Drs. Edward M. Hallowell and John J. Ratey build on the breakthroughs of Driven to Distraction to offer a comprehensive and entirely up-to-date guide to living a successful life with ADD.
As Hallowell and Ratey point out, “attention deficit disorder” is a highly misleading description of an intriguing kind of mind. Original, charismatic, energetic, often brilliant, people with ADD have extraordinary talents and gifts embedded in their highly charged but easily distracted minds. Tailored expressly to ADD learning styles and attention spans, Delivered from Distraction provides accessible, engaging discussions of every aspect of the condition, from diagnosis to finding the proper treatment regime. Inside you’ll discover
- whether ADD runs in families
- new diagnostic procedures, tests, and evaluations
- the links between ADD and other conditions
- how people with ADD can free up their inner talents and strengths
- the new drugs and how they work, and why they’re not for everyone
- exciting advances in nonpharmaceutical therapies, including changes in diet, exercise, and lifestyle
- how to adapt the classic twelve-step program to treat ADD
- sexual problems associated with ADD and how to resolve them
- strategies for dealing with procrastination, clutter, and chronic forgetfulness
ADD is a trait, a way of living in the world. It only becomes a disorder when it impairs your life. Featuring gripping profiles of patients with ADD who have triumphed, Delivered from Distraction is a wise, loving guide to releasing the positive energy that all people with ADD hold inside. If you have ADD or care about someone who does, this is the book you must read.
Driven to Distraction
Edward M. Hallowell, MD - John J. Ratey, MD
For the millions of adults diagnosed with ADHD The Disorganized Mind will provide expert guidance on what they can do to make the most of their lives. The inattention, time-mismanagement, procrastination, impulsivity, distractibility, and difficulty with transitions that often go hand-in-hand with ADHD can be overcome with the unique approach that Nancy Ratey brings to turning these behaviors around.
- The Disorganized Mind addresses the common issues confronted by the ADHD adult:
- “Where did the time go?”
- “I’ll do it later, I always work better under pressure anyway.”
- “I’ll just check my e-mail one more time before the meeting…”
- “I’ll pay the bills tomorrow – that will give me time to find them.”
Professional ADHD coach and expert Nancy Ratey helps readers better understand why their ADHD is getting in their way and what they can do about it. Nancy Ratey understands the challenges faced by adults with ADHD from both a personal and professional perspective and is able to help anyone move forward to achieve greater success. Many individuals with ADHD live in turmoil. It doesn’t have to be that way. You can make choices and imagine how things can change – this book will teach you how. By using ADHD strategies that have worked for others and will work for you, as well as learning how to organize, plan, and prioritize, you’ll clear the hurdles of daily living with a confidence and success you may never before have dreamed possible.
Nancy Ratey has the proven strategies that will help anyone with ADHD get focused, stay on track, and get things done - and finally get what they want from their work and their life.
Is It You, Me, or Adult A.D.D.?
Gina Pera
Imagine: At least nine million American adults share a highly genetic condition that can jeopardize their health, employment, finances, and their closest relationships. Yet only one million know they have it, and only some of them truly understand it.
What is this mysterious condition? Adult Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). And contrary to popular myth, ADHD symptoms can be even more impairing in adulthood than in childhood. After all, children don’t drive automobiles, have credit cards, enter romantic relationships, and hold a job. Neither are they responsible for maintaining a household (or their own health), paying bills, and raising a family!
The science has been clear for more than a decade: Adult ADHD was declared a medical diagnosis in 1994. Still, the public and even many mental-health professionals harbor misconceptions about it.
Change comes slowly. Meanwhile, too many people (perhaps as many as 30 million in the U.S. alone) suffer needlessly in ignorance, along with their loved ones.
Everyone knows someone with adult ADHD, even though you might not realize it. (And neither might that adult!) Too often, we misattribute the symptoms to anxiety and depression—or even laziness, willfulness, flightiness, selfishness, moodiness, and worse. We describe some people with undiagnosed ADHD as having personalities that are addictive, Type A, or even passive-aggressive.
In most ways, ADHD symptoms (forgetfulness, distractibility, and impulsivity, chief among them) do resemble the human condition in exaggerated form, and so we don’t simply make the connection to a brain condition.
Meanwhile, these adults and their family members face the “ADHD Roller Coaster” in these various flavors, shapes, and sizes:
- Disorganization and clutter
- Forgotten tasks and obligations
- Out-of-whack priorities
- Unpaid bills and maxed-out credit cards
- Neglected home repairs and lost jobs
- Hot tempers and erratic parenting styles
- Traffic accidents and citations
- Addictions and poor health habits
- And many more.
Moreover, the ADHD symptoms themselves (including poor working memory and difficulty linking cause with effect) mean that many adults fail to accurately perceive their own role in creating the chaos swirling round them. They sometimes place the blame everywhere else—the pointy-haired boss, the high-maintenance partner, the screaming kids, the “anal” folks at the IRS. If you try to point out their role in the chaos, without both of you understanding about ADHD, you’ll just stay stuck on the roller coaster. In fact, the roller coaster might grow even wilder.
For these reasons, it often falls to the partners of these adults to understand and connect the problematic behaviors to ADHD’s symptoms. That’s why author Gina Pera reaches out to this group in particular, acknowledging the impact of untreated ADHD on loved ones. Nonetheless, everyone affected by ADHD will find the information in this book invaluable, especially adults with ADHD and psychotherapists, who often mistake treatable ADHD symptoms for “communication problems” or “personality.”
Meticulously researched by this award-winning journalist, Is It You, Me, or Adult A.D.D.? offers the latest information from top experts who explain the science and proven protocols for reducing ADHD’s most challenging symptoms. Real-life details come from the partners themselves, who share their stories with touching candor (yet plenty of humor) and their own strategies and tips. The revolutionary message is one of hope for millions of people and a joyous opportunity for a better life—not to mention a much smoother and more enjoyable ride.
It’s So Much Work to Be Your Friend
Richard Lavoie
As any parent, teacher, coach, or caregiver of a learning disabled child knows, every learning disability has a social component. The ADD child constantly interrupts conversations and doesn't follow directions. The child with visual-spatial issues loses his belongings and causes his siblings to be late to school. The child with paralinguistic difficulties appears stiff and wooden because she fails to gesture when she talks. These children are socially out of step with their classmates and peers, and often they are ridiculed or ostracized for their differences. A successful social life is immeasurably important to a child's happiness, health, and development, but until now, no book has provided practical, expert advice on helping learning disabled children achieve social success.
For more than thirty years, Richard Lavoie has lived with and taught learning disabled children. His best selling PBS videos, including How Difficult Can This Be?: The F.A.T. City Workshop, and his sellout lectures and workshops have made him one of the most popular and respected experts in the field. At last, Rick's pioneering techniques for helping children achieve a happy and successful social life are available in book form.
It's So Much Work to Be Your Friend offers practical strategies to help learning disabled children ages six through seventeen navigate the treacherous social waters of their school, home, and community. Rick examines the special social issues surrounding a wide variety of learning disabilities, including ADD and other attentional disorders, anxiety, paralinguistics, visual-spatial disorders, and executive functioning. Then he provides proven methods and step-by-step instructions for helping the learning disabled child through almost any social situation, including choosing a friend, going on a playdate, conducting a conversation, reading body language, overcoming shyness and low self-esteem, keeping track of belongings, living with siblings, and adjusting to new settings and situations.
Perhaps the most important component of this book is the author's compassion. It comes through on every page that Rick feels the intensity with which children long for friends and acceptance, the exasperation they can cause in others, and the joy they feel in social connection. It's So Much Work to Be Your Friend answers the most intense yet, until now, silent need of the parents, teachers, and caregivers of learning disabled children -- or anyone who is associated with a child who needs a friend.
My Thirteenth Winter: A Memoir
Samantha Abeel
Samantha Abeel not only wrote My Thirteenth Winter, but lives it. This book opens up your eyes and makes you aware of the stuggles that thousands of people go through. Samantha went through many depressing moments throughout her educational life. Most of the discouraging times were due to a learning disability that was not discovered until after her life had been...
Nolo’s IEP Guide Learning Disabilities
Lawrence M. Seigel
The third updated edition of Attorney Lawrence M. Siegel's NOLO'S IEP GUIDE: LEARNING DISABILITIES is a more general reference which offers the latest legal information needed to identify a learning disability, understand a child's rights and options, develop cases for school administrators, and more. As a companion volume to THE COMPLETE IEP GUIDE, it offers an entirely updated revision reflecting major changes to the Individuals With Disabilities Act and the entire IEP process, and is an invaluable special education parent's guide.
Overcoming Dyslexia
Sally Shaywitz, MD
When a child struggles with reading, life can be hard: The ability, or inability, to read directly affects every aspect of her life, including her self-esteem. Unfortunately, almost 40 percent of 4th grade students in the United States read below grade level, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress. The large number of struggling readers is due in part to the fact that reading problems — namely dyslexia, which affects 10 million children nationwide — often go undiagnosed until children are well into elementary school, when it's much more difficult to address them.
However, we now know that reading problems can be identified in early childhood and, with the appropriate support, there is a good chance struggling readers will go on to become good readers. A groundbreaking study by researchers at Yale University School of Medicine revealed that when children are taught solid decoding skills (connecting sounds with letters) early on, and get prompt, intensive help in learning spelling, vocabulary and comprehension skills, they can indeed master necessary reading skills. In fact, researchers discovered — through comparing brain scans of struggling readers with those who received intense help — that the intervention helped "turn on" and stimulate the brain's reading systems. To find out what it really means to have dyslexia and what you can do to help your child build stronger literacy skills, the editors at Scholastic's Parent & Child turned to Sally Shaywitz, M.D., a co-author of the Yale study and the author of the widely acclaimed book Overcoming Dyslexia: A New and Complete Science-Based Program for Reading Problems at Any Level. "Teaching matters," says Shaywitz. "You can change a child's brain when it comes to reading."
Raising Resilient Children
Robert Brooks PhD - Sam Goldstein PhD
Two renowned child psychologists explain how to help children become emotionally and mentally strong to face the challenges of modern life. They review the research on resilience and lay out a step-by-step plan for parents to help build resilience, confidence, and emotional strength in their children. Filled with real-life anecdotes, which bring to life important lessons for parents of all children.
Self Advocacy Skills for Students with Learning Disabilities
Henry D. Reiff PhD
The strategies contained are not only straight forward and easy to understand, but are based upon the author’s research about successful adults with learning disabilities. The constant thread throughout the book is the meaning, value, and development of self advocacy in the life of students with learning disabilities.
Shelly The Hyperactive Turtle
Deborah M Moss
A delightful story of a bright young turtle who’s not like all the other turtles. Visiting the doctor, Shelley learns what “hyperactive” means,; and to take special medicine to control that wiggly feeling. Ideal for ages 3-7.
Special Education What It Is And Why We Need It
James M Kaufman, Ed.D- Daniel P Hallahan, Ph.D.
Just what special education is, who gets it or who should get it, and why it is necessary are matters that relatively few teachers, parents, school administrators, or educators of teachers can explain accurately or with much confidence. In this brief booklet, Hallahan & Kauffman help education students build a foundation of understanding, to fashion a realistic, rational view of the basic assumptions and knowledge on which special education rests.
The 6 Successful Factors for Children With Learning Disabilitied
The Frostig Center
Learning disabilities (LD) affect some 15 percent of the U.S. population. Today, almost 3 million school age students receive special education services because of learning disabilities.
Drawing on more than 20 years of groundbreaking research tracing the lives of children and adults with LD, researchers at the Frostig Center in Pasadena, California have identified key factors that contribute to success.
Understanding and nuturing these key factors - called "success attributes" - can aid in a child's development and ability to overcome LD. Each of the six success attributes - self-awareness, proactivity, perseverance, goal-setting, support systems, and emotional coping strategies - has been shown to lead to successful life outcomes for children with LD.
Now, these innovative guides for parents and teachers offer new tools to help foster the development of these success attributes.
The Misunderstood Child
Larry B. Silver, MD
The fully revised and updated must-have resource to help you become a supportive and assertive advocate for your child
In print for more than twenty years, The Misunderstood Child has become the go-to reference guide for families of children with learning disorders. This newly revised edition provides the latest research and new and updated content, including:
- How to identify and address specific disabilities, from dyslexia to sensory integration disorder
- New information on the genetics of learning disorders
- Expanded sections on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
- The most recent neurological discoveries about how the brain functions in children with learning disabilities
- Insights about other neurological disorders common among individuals with learning disabilities, such as anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive behaviors, anger-control problems, depression, and tic disorders
- Resources, Web sites, and organizations that can aid the treatment process and offer support for both parent and child
The Out of Sync Child
Carol Stock Kranowitz, MA
First identified decades ago by an occupational therapist, sensory integration dysfunction has only recently been widely recognized among doctors and psychologists. Now, this guide offers comprehensive, easily understood information on Sl Dysfunction.
The Survival Guide for Kids With LD
Greg Fisher, PhD - Rhoda Cummings, Ed.D
What is LD? Why do some kids have LD? Why is it hard for kids with LD to learn? If you are a kid with a learning disability, you may have lots of questions like these. This book has many answers. It can help you understand LD and can also help you understand yourself.
We’ve Got Issues – Children and Parents in the Age of Medication
Judith Warner
Warner tackles some of the most contentious question that lie at the heart of this discussion:
- Are parents and physicians throwing labels at children to explain away bad behavior?
- Are they using drugs as substitutes for proper parenting?
- Or do the very questions reveal something deeper-some unacknowledged set of “issues”-going on within our society.